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Legendary Dreadnought

A Dreadnought is an ancient and powerful warrior indeed, feared on the battlefield by the enemy and capable of cutting down great swathes of foes. They have earned the respect and admiration of their battle brothers over countless centuries and there are few Marines indeed that do not owe their lives to one their Chapters' Armored Elders. Reputed for both their linebreaking assaults and tactical acumen the Legendary Dreadnought is a warrior and leader in equal measure.

A Legendary Dreadnought is an Elites choice for a Space Marine army.

Cost: 200 points

WS BS S FA SA RA I A

5 5 6(10) 13 12 11 4 4

Unit: 1 Dreadnought

Unit Type: Vehicle (Walker)

Wargear:

Multi-melta

Dreadnought Close Combat Weapon (with built-in storm bolter)

Smoke Launcher

Searchight

Special Rules:

Ancient Warrior

Armored Hurricane

Venerable

Ancient Warrior: Dreadnoughts are timeless heroes having withstood centuries of bitter conflict to become the cornerstones of their chapters.

In close combat, all successful "To hit" rolls made against a Legendary Dreadnought must be re-rolled. Note that any initial rolls of a '6' to hit ignore this rule.

Armored Hurricane: Dreadnoughts can rotate the top half of their armoured shell to swing their combat weapon in a great arc to hit numerous foes in one stroke. A Legendary Dreadnought may exchange its Attacks value for the number of enemy models in base contact with it in the Assault Phase, but only if it has at least one Dreadnought Close Combat Weapon

Options and Transport are the same as in the Dreadnought entry (see Space Marine Codex), with the following added:

A Legendary Dreadnought may exchange its multi-melta for another Dreadnought close combat weapon with built in storm bolter at no additional cost. Thie storm bolter may be upgraded to a heavy flamer at the cost given.

A Legendary Dreadnought may exchange his multi-melta for a Paladin Shield for + 40 points. The shield grants the Dreadnought a 4+ Invulnerable save.

A Legendary Dreadnought may be upgraded to a Master of the Council for + 35 points. This increases his WS and Initiative by 1. Legendary Dreadnoughts upgraded in this way count as HQ choices rather than Elites and allow the player to take a single Dreadnought as a Troops choice.

I like this dreadnought idea and may try it out in a friendly game. One thing though If it takes a shield it becomes f/s armor 14 so now a huge unstoppable force. Does it lose anything, ie. attack in c/c, speed loss for weight increase. Just wondering and if oyu go adding jump packs we may as well call ourselves Tau, but i'd sure love having an assaulty jump dread that'd be SWEET.

Can I point out that Armored Hurricane assumes that soldiers locked in close combat with a dreadnought are literally crowded around it a la Dawn of War? That's ... not a very realistic image, or even in line with the BRB's description of close combat. If you're set on the idea of a Canis Wolfborn dreadnought, can I suggest re-tooling that fluff to refer to the legendary dreadnought's great skill and total mastery of his new body?

If I had to guess I would say, Natalie, that it's precisely that 'Dawn of War' image that Master Bryss had in mind when he wrote the rule. The general idea being that opponents like Orks and Tyranids would clamber around and even over the Dread looking for a place to stick a grenade or a weakness in the armor. The enraged Dreadnought would then lash out crushing everything within reach.

For more prudent opponents the player would theoretically elect to use the Dread's base attacks to represent a combat in which the opponents have the room(and the good sense) to dodge and parry to the best of their abilities. These opponents (Marines and other elite troops) are less likely to have more than 4 models in base contact making it undesirable for the player to initiate the Armored Hurricane rule.

Thanks for the comment. I'll leave it to Master Bryss to decide whether or not he wants to change it.

Melissia this wouldn't be the first unit to disallow 2D6 Armor Penetration. You play against Monoliths and Wave Serpents don't you?

The issue at hand is Dreadnoughts are meant to be nigh-invulnerable killing machines but if anyone so much as mentions a Monstrous Creature (and their 2D6 Armor Pen in CC) the Dread starts fumbling for its last words. This weakness to MCs is un-fluffy wouldn't you agree?

I think the point is that the dread should either have immunity to 2d6 armor penetration, or it shouldn't. I have to agree with that comment. It also strikes me as weird, in its current incarnation, that melta bombs get 2d6 armor penetration but tankbusta bombz, which are really just slightly weaker versions of melta bombs, don't.

I don't know about resistance to monstrous creatures in melee. Maybe you could justify that. Maybe you could even justify it for eviscerators and chainfists, despite them being power weapons too by most more recent definitions.

But you cannot justify it being immune to the effects of meltaguns like the other examples given, and yet not immune to meltabombs. If a meltagun hits it dead on, then it would have the exact same effect as a meltabomb.

This is no Eldar grav-tank with super-advanced holofields or a necron monolith with living metal armor, this is a huge, boxy walker which isn't that fast and uses Imperial technology for its armor.

Points cost seems fine to me across the board. The paladin shield I'm fine with too.

The dreadnought as Troops rule actually seems a little weird to me. I always thought that Masters of the Forge permit dreadnoughts to be taken as HS because a) the political support of the Master of the Forge would be necessary to wake so many dreadnoughts, and b) if the chapter's most skilled techmarine is part of the strike force, presumably it would have the technical know-how required to support the maintenance demands of a large number of dreadnoughts.

By contrast, I don't actually see how the presence of a very wise dreadnought in a strike force makes it any more likely that large numbers of dreads would be present, or that the strike force would be more likely to be able to cope with the logistical demands of a large number of dreads. I'd favor a more tactical army-wide benefit, such as greater control over Reserves, or decreasing the enemy's control over Reserves, or permitting a unit in the space marine army to Outflank.

Since it's a rule that I added I can explain the concept behind it. I was reading the descriptive fluff for the Dreadnought in the Space Marine codex and had a 'light-bulb above the head' moment when I came across the part that says Dreadnoughts are sometimes used together in large numbers as a linebreaking force. I made sure to add that idea to the fluff blurb above and I designed a rule that I felt represented it. The idea is that the Legendary Dread would be the natural choice to lead these assaults. In short the large number of Dreads makes it more likely for the Legendary Dread to be there not the other way around.

Also that's 4 Attacks stock. It would be 4(5) with the extra close combat weapon. The large number of base attacks defines the CC role of the Legendary Dread and makes the Armored Hurricane rule more reasonable.

I would have to say that denying 2d6 armor penetration to monstrous creatures, in addition to a possible 4+ invul save from the shield, is totally ludicrous. While I admit that a legendary dreadnough should be able to go pound for pound against a hive tyrant or trygon, neither of these xenox monsters EVEN HAS A CHANCE TO HURT IT, at least without Str 7 furious charge, then they can MAYBE glance, negated on a 4+, plus venerable, plus EA, etc. etc. etc.

I would recommend changing the rules slightly to lower the initial points cost by eliminating the immune to 2d6 penetration in close combat. Instead, I would vote that the dread may take a paladin shield to provide an eldar force shield effect from ranged weapons (negating rear armor shots, simulating the possibility for a sneak attack), as well as providing a 4+ invul save in close combat. This way, when going at it with massive monstrous creatures, it stands a good chance of laying the smackdown with a 4+ invul and venerable, while not making him undamageable as he is now.

Just my 2 cents, but of course I love the idea of badass CC dreads smacking Monsters around.

"as one of the most rarely seen forms of dreadnoughts and paradigms of the forces of the imperium, the legendary dreadnought strikes the fear of the emperor into the hearts of xenos and heretics alike. Any enemy wishing to shoot at the dread must pass a Ld test or else choose another target, symbolizing their reluctance to draw the ancient warrior to their position."